Japan’s Creww foraying into coworking space business

Tokyo-based Creww, the Japanese startup behind a community platform offering open innovation opportunities to startups, announced on Wednesday that it is foraying into the coworking space business with the collaboration of major developers and real estate agencies. Named after Creww’s current headquarters called “Creww Dock” in Nakameguro, Tokyo, the new initiative will be conducted under the name of “Docks“.

The company plans to unveil five Docks in Tokyo by April of 2018, the first of which is “Dock-Toranomon” and is set to open on October 30th in the Shiroyama Trust Tower (by Mori Trust) in Kamiyacho, Tokyo. Docks are not only for startups and entrepreneurs. General enterprises are also scheduled to move in and it is expected that they will contribute not only to physical space sharing but also to encouraging collaboration between companies and to fostering open innovation.

Another view of Dock-Toranomon Image credit: Creww

In the so-called startup hub cities around the world the supply of coworking space exceeds the demand for startups, especially in Singapore and Seoul. In these cities, free spaces are provided by government agencies and local municipalities, but private coworking spaces are often more popular, many times dependent on the presence, or lack of, a community centered around the coworking space.

WeWork recently announced its entry into the Japanese market in partnership with Mitsubishi Estate and expects to open 10 to 20 coworking spaces in Tokyo. In addition to this, recently Plug and Play Japan announced the start of an accelerator program in Tokyo and has made it clear that a coworking space will be set up in Shibuya for partner companies and startups. From the beginning of this year Nikkei started the “Nikkei Office Pass” which can be used across the coworking spaces of 25 metropolitan areas with a flat fee, and due to the renewal of the service, the trial service will close this month.

Masaru started his career as a programmer/engineer, and previously co-founded several system integration companies and consulting firms. He’s been traveling around Silicon Valley and Asia exploring the IT industry, and he also curates event updates for the Tokyo edition of Startup Digest.